46 win rights for power plant gas emissions

10-state coalition offers allowances for carbon dioxide

Local power companies, as well as major financial organizations and oil companies are among more than 80 potential bidders that were approved to participate in a recent auction of allowances that give area power plants the right to emit greenhouse gases.

The auction is part of a so-called cap-and-trade program implemented by a 10-state coalition known as the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative of which Massachusetts is a member. The group's aim is to reduce the amount of greenhouse gases from power plants over the next decade. The effort is being closely watched by Congress, as well as by environmentalists and officials worldwide.

But winning entities were not identified and it is not clear which of the potential bidders - including National Grid, Barclays Bank PLC, Merrill Lynch Commodities Inc., and Shell Energy North America - participated in the mid-December auction. There were 69 bids, and 46 won allowances, with bids ranging from a minimum of $1.86 per allowance to a high of $7.20, according to an auction report released yesterday by RGGI Inc., the initiative's nonprofit corporation.

Each allowance, of which there are a limited number, represents one ton of carbon dioxide. Power plants in the RGGI region, which stretches from Maine to Maryland, must buy an allowance for every ton of the greenhouse gas they emit, or find a way to reduce such emissions.

This was the second RGGI auction, and the first time bidders were named. Many were companies regulated by the greenhouse gas emissions reduction effort, which Derek Murrow, director of policy analysis for the nonprofit advocacy group Environment Northeast, called "a good sign."

"I was struck by the fact that 80 percent of the bids were from compliance entities, which means that the market is dominated by power plants," Murrow said of the auction, which raised more than $100 million.

"We're really pleased," he added. "It's clearly raising significant new funds [that the states will use] for energy-efficiency programs."

Representatives of National Grid and Dominion Power, the largest power generator in New England, said their companies submitted bids in last month's auction. Neither offered specifics, though Bob Teetz, National Grid's director of environmental management, said the utility was "successful."

Dan Genest, a Dominion spokesman, said the power company still had issues with the RGGI effort.

"We continue to be concerned that the auctions will increase electric bills," Genest said. "And we continue to maintain that a national greenhouse gas policy is better than a regional one."

Erin Ailworth can be reached at eailworth@globe.com.